The Village Square: July 17, 2017

I hope your summer vacations are going as well as mine. For three glorious weeks I got to visit the Philippines, where my wife and I enjoyed spending time at places like this. And while I didn’t bring any board games, I learned that my motherland is home to a few board game cafes.

Kashgar in English
Grail Games is releasing an English version of Kashgar: Merchants of the Silk Road, a “deck-building game in which players actually build three, “open” decks at the same time.” The original German game has been around since 2013 and this English edition will be available in early 2018.Source: http://mailchi.mp/cecb9d2e1ada/hang-12-is-now-on-kickstarter-2493225

Photosynthesis at Gen Con
According to Dice Tower News, Blue Orange Games announced Photosynthesis, a game of “absorbing light energy, then using the stored energy to plant and grow new trees on a hex grid board. The sun rotates around the board each round, and trees will cast shadows preventing yours and other players’ trees from soaking in that delicious sunlight so needed to progress.” It will be released at next month’s Gen Con.Source: http://www.dicetowernews.com/blue-orange-games-to-release-photosynthesis-at-gen-con-50-this-august/45876

New Star Realms Kickstarter
White Wizard Games announced a new Kickstarter for its successful Star Realms deck building game. According to a recent email, Star Realms: Frontiers is a standalone game fully compatible with the original Star Realms and its expansions. Frontiers includes nine new expansions for Star Realms, including a few Kickstarter exclusives.Source: http://mailchi.mp/whitewizardgames/e8qr9iy4ar?e=146f75208e

Codenames Duet Preview
W. Eric Martin recently previewed Codenames Duet. Over on his BGG blog he wrote, “Codenames Duet differs from Codenames in that this new game is fully cooperative instead of being played with competing teams. … If Codenames were Star Wars, with two factions facing off against one another with one sure to win in the end, Codenames Duet is Rogue One, with the two of you in a race against time, often cowering on the beach as the world blows up around you.”Source: https://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/67194/game-preview-codenames-duet-or-searching-agents-al

Board Game Proposal
Over on geekandsundry.com there was a heartwarming story of how one couple’s relationship was expressed in board game form, which eventually ended in a proposal. The game’s designer wrote that as the warrior woman character “stood outside the mountain lair with her trusty spirit animal by her side, the Bard, having witnessed her bravery and triumph over all the obstacles, had only one question to ask.”Source: http://geekandsundry.com/this-couple-turned-a-marriage-proposal-into-a-boardgame-of-fantasy-and-roleplay/